Rationale and Comments

Indwelling urinary catheters are placed in patients in the emergency department to assist when patients cannot urinate, to monitor urine output, or for patient comfort. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection is the most common hospital-acquired infection in the U.S., and can be prevented by reducing the use of indwelling urinary catheters. Emergency physicians and nurses should discuss the need for a urinary catheter with a patient and/or their caregivers, as sometimes such catheters can be avoided. Emergency physicians can reduce the use of indwelling urinary catheters by following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s evidence-based guidelines for the use of urinary catheters. Indications for a catheter may include: output monitoring for critically ill patients, relief of urinary obstruction, at the time of surgery and end-of-life care. When possible, alternatives to indwelling urinary catheters should be used.

Sponsoring Organizations

• American College of Emergency Physicians

Sources

• Expert consensus

Disciplines

• Emergency medicine
• Infectious disease
• Urologic

References

• Umscheid CA, Mitchell MD, Doshi JA, Agarwal R, Williams K, Brennan PJ. Estimating the proportion of healthcare-associated infections that are reasonably preventable and the related mortality and costs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2011 Feb;32:101-14.
  
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• Munasinghe RL, Yazdani H, Siddique M, Hafeez W. Appropriateness of use of indwelling urinary catheters in patients admitted to the medical service. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2001 Oct;22:647-9.
  
• Hazelett SE, Tsai M, Gareri M, Allen K. The association between indwelling urinary catheter use in the elderly and urinary tract infection in acute care. BMC Geriatr. 2006 Oct 12;6:15.
  
• Gardam MA, Amihod B, Orenstein P, Consolacion N, Miller MA. Overutilization of indwelling urinary catheters and the development of nosocomial urinary tract infections. Clin Perform Qual Health Care. 1998 Jul-Sep;6:99-102.
  
• Gokula RR, Hickner JA, Smith MA. Inappropriate use of urinary catheters in elderly patients at a midwestern community teaching hospital. Am J Infect Control. 2004;32:196-9.
  
• Gould CV, Umscheid CA, Agarwal RK, Kuntz G, Pegues DA; Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). Guideline for prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections 2009. Atlanta (GA): HICPAC; 2009. 67 p.
  
• Scott RA, Oman KS, Makic MB, Fink RM, Hulett TM, Braaten JS, Severyn F, Wald HL. Reducing indwelling urinary catheter use in the emergency department. A successful quality-improvement initiative. J Emerg Nurs. 2013 Mar 7. pii: S0099-1767(12)00344–3. [Epub ahead of print]